joebubbles
Contributor
From April 11 to April 21 Zeny and I dove Sogod Bay, Balicasag, Cabilao and Moalboal. The highpoints of the adventure was the whaleshark encounter at Sogod Bay and the Sardine encounter at Moalboal (Pescador Island). I've attached a video below.
Sogod Bay, Southern Leyte:
We got to Leyte by taking the Supercat "fast" Ferry to Ormoc from Cebu. From Ormoc we took a shared van to Maasin and from there transferred to a Jeep to Padre Burgos. We stayed at the JM - RN Pensionne House which is beside the jetty. It is a 5 minute trike ride to Peter's and Sogod Bay dive shops. Our first dive day was the Whaleshark encounter at Limasawa Island with Peter's dive shop. We had about 6 encounters and then went around the Island for a dive before returning back. Later that evening we put in a night dive at the Padre Burgos jetty. It was nice being only 30 seconds away from the dive site! Our next dive day was with Sogod Bay dive shop to Napantaw. We had a scheduling issue with Peter's and fortunately Sogod Bay was happy to take us over. Napantaw is the pre-eminent dive site in the area. The dive site lived up to its reputation with great viz, healthy coral and tonnes of reef fish.
Balicasag & Cabilao, Bohol:
We initially planned on getting to Bohol by taking the RORO from Maasin to Ubay, but the scheduling was lousy as the departure time was 7:30pm. The alternative was to travel a little further north to Bato, Southern Leyte to catch the banca to Ubay, Bohol. This worked out well as we took the 9:00am banca and arrived at Ubay a little after 11:00am at Ubay we took a shared van to Alona Beach. Ordinarily, the van would only go as far as Tagbilarin, but the driver agreed to take us to Alona for an extra 400 pesos. It took us 2.5 hours to get to Alona Beach from Ubay. At Alona beach we checked into Hayahay Resort which is owned by Genesis Divers. We actually went diving with Bohol Fun Divers which is located at Lost Horizon Resort. On our first Bohol dive day we went to Balicasag to dive "the Sanctuary" and "Black Forest". Unfortunately, we did not see the large school of resident baracuda and only a small school of Jacks were spotted at Black Forest. Nevertheless, they were enjoyable dives not to be missed. Our next dive day was at Cabilao which is a considerable distance from Alona Beach. Dive shops on Alona sporadically offer trips Cabilao, but not on the day we wanted to go. Since we were renting our gear it was easy to hop on a scooter and make the trek over to Mocpoc. We left Alona beach at 5:30am and arrived at Mocpoc at 7:30am. We took the 15 minute banca ride to Cabilao Island and had another motorcyle driver take us to Polaris Dive shop. We had our breakfast at the resort and put in two dives--House Reef and South Point. Both were fantastic wall dives with excellent viz.
Moalboal, Cebu:
Transiting from Bohol to Cebu is a breeze. Took a taxi to the ferry terminal, just caught the 9:30 am OceanJet to Cebu. We arrived at Cebu terminal 1 at 11:30am and negotiated with a taxi driver to take us to Moalboal for 1,700 pesos. We stayed at Savedra resort and dove with Savedra dive shop. We put in a couple dives at Pescador island which is the premier wall dive site at Panagsama which is home to a resident school of Sardines. The video below is worth a thousand words. On a non-dive day we went out to Kawasan Falls to snorkel in the fresh cool water and enjoy a picnic.
Dive Philippines: Majestic Whalesharks and dancing Sardines
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqsbZnjN63E
(click on 720p for HD quality)
Sogod Bay, Southern Leyte:
We got to Leyte by taking the Supercat "fast" Ferry to Ormoc from Cebu. From Ormoc we took a shared van to Maasin and from there transferred to a Jeep to Padre Burgos. We stayed at the JM - RN Pensionne House which is beside the jetty. It is a 5 minute trike ride to Peter's and Sogod Bay dive shops. Our first dive day was the Whaleshark encounter at Limasawa Island with Peter's dive shop. We had about 6 encounters and then went around the Island for a dive before returning back. Later that evening we put in a night dive at the Padre Burgos jetty. It was nice being only 30 seconds away from the dive site! Our next dive day was with Sogod Bay dive shop to Napantaw. We had a scheduling issue with Peter's and fortunately Sogod Bay was happy to take us over. Napantaw is the pre-eminent dive site in the area. The dive site lived up to its reputation with great viz, healthy coral and tonnes of reef fish.
Balicasag & Cabilao, Bohol:
We initially planned on getting to Bohol by taking the RORO from Maasin to Ubay, but the scheduling was lousy as the departure time was 7:30pm. The alternative was to travel a little further north to Bato, Southern Leyte to catch the banca to Ubay, Bohol. This worked out well as we took the 9:00am banca and arrived at Ubay a little after 11:00am at Ubay we took a shared van to Alona Beach. Ordinarily, the van would only go as far as Tagbilarin, but the driver agreed to take us to Alona for an extra 400 pesos. It took us 2.5 hours to get to Alona Beach from Ubay. At Alona beach we checked into Hayahay Resort which is owned by Genesis Divers. We actually went diving with Bohol Fun Divers which is located at Lost Horizon Resort. On our first Bohol dive day we went to Balicasag to dive "the Sanctuary" and "Black Forest". Unfortunately, we did not see the large school of resident baracuda and only a small school of Jacks were spotted at Black Forest. Nevertheless, they were enjoyable dives not to be missed. Our next dive day was at Cabilao which is a considerable distance from Alona Beach. Dive shops on Alona sporadically offer trips Cabilao, but not on the day we wanted to go. Since we were renting our gear it was easy to hop on a scooter and make the trek over to Mocpoc. We left Alona beach at 5:30am and arrived at Mocpoc at 7:30am. We took the 15 minute banca ride to Cabilao Island and had another motorcyle driver take us to Polaris Dive shop. We had our breakfast at the resort and put in two dives--House Reef and South Point. Both were fantastic wall dives with excellent viz.
Moalboal, Cebu:
Transiting from Bohol to Cebu is a breeze. Took a taxi to the ferry terminal, just caught the 9:30 am OceanJet to Cebu. We arrived at Cebu terminal 1 at 11:30am and negotiated with a taxi driver to take us to Moalboal for 1,700 pesos. We stayed at Savedra resort and dove with Savedra dive shop. We put in a couple dives at Pescador island which is the premier wall dive site at Panagsama which is home to a resident school of Sardines. The video below is worth a thousand words. On a non-dive day we went out to Kawasan Falls to snorkel in the fresh cool water and enjoy a picnic.
Dive Philippines: Majestic Whalesharks and dancing Sardines
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqsbZnjN63E
(click on 720p for HD quality)
